There
are individual moments, lines and sometimes whole scenes in They Came Together
that made me laugh more than any other mainstream comedy that I have seen so
far this year. The film is a parody of romantic comedies, and knows the clichés
of the genre inside out, and has great fun poking fun of them lovingly – and
sometimes not so lovingly. And in Paul Rudd and Amy Poehler the film has a
perfect pair to pull this off. It’s somewhat disappointing therefore to say
that the sum of the parts are far less than the whole – the movie never really
comes together, even in the limited way great parodies do. Couple this with the
fact that making fun of romantic comedies is pretty much picking low hanging
fruit and the film never quite goes for the jugular and the result is
disappointing. Hilarious in part, but still disappointing.

The
film opens with Joel (Rudd) and Molly (Poehler) out at dinner with Kyle (Bill
Hader) and Karen (Ellie Kemper) – who tell them their own meet cute story, and
then ask for Joel and Molly’s. So the pair launch into a long winded story that
we flashback to see just how exactly the two met. She
runs a cute little Candy Store in New York City, and he works for a huge Candy Conglomerate
who wants to put her out of business. They meet at a party, immediately hate
each other, but then, slowly, they fall in love – dealing with one obstacle and
setback after another.

To say more would pretty much be giving away the jokes
in the movie – because the film is pretty much all wall to wall jokes, as the
pair deal with their fledgling relationship, and all the roadblocks that go
along with that – which have been raised to ridiculous levels (the visit to Molly’s
parents is a particular highlight).

The film was directed by David Wain – who co-wrote it
with Michael Showalter, and in the vein of their cult favorite Wet Hot American
Summer (never seen by me). Individual scenes work, as they poke fun of the all
the clichés that romantic comedies have been using for decades. Rudd and
Poehler carry the movie with effortless charm and humor – and the supporting
cast are mostly in top form as well. You could almost see any individual scene
in the movie working well as a skit on a more profane Saturday Night Live.

Yet, when strung together, the movie runs simply runs
out to steam well before it ends. What works as a skit doesn’t always translate
well to feature length, and even though the film is filled with clever touches
right up to the end, I had stopped really caring that much. Compared to another
recent movie – Michael Dowses The F Word, which also indulged in romantic
comedy clichés, but did so in the service of a movie that actually worked, and
was trying to be a complete movie, not just a series of jokes, They Came
Together felt somewhat lacking. Perhaps had Wain and company simply pushed
further – gone into much darker territory with the romantic comedy clichés, it
could have worked. But mainly, they played it safe. The result, while at times
hilarious, left me wanting more.

About Me

I am an accountant, living in Brantford, ON - and although I am married and have beautiful daughter, I still find time to watch a lot of movies. This blog is mostly reviews of new movies - with other musing thrown in as well.